Guest Post and Giveaway: Five Dares by Eli Easton

We’re so pleased to have author Eli Easton joining us as our guest today on the Five Dares blog tour, her newest release from Riptide Publishing. She’s here to tell us what her fave scene is in the book, and there’s also a giveaway so be sure to check out those details at the end.

Welcome, Eli!

My Favorite Scene from Five Dares

I’m excited to finally be able to talk about Five Dares, a college-age romance I wrote this past winter. This story has a simple but inescapable slide from best friends to lovers for Andy and Jake, two life-long best buds who are both daredevils and adrenaline junkies.

My favorite scene from the novel is the scene in which Andy convinces Jake to kiss. At this point in the story, the guys have already been intimate. Because of a stunt gone wrong, they both have severely burned hands and are stuck together at a cottage over the summer. They’ve been indulging in mutual blowjobs—purely in the spirit of “we’re just bros helping each other get off since we can’t wank”. Because of course that’s the reason!

However, when Andy suggests they kiss, it’s clearly not about just getting off.  The scene escalates the intimacy between them to a new level, and it’s a very vulnerable moment for both guys, to admit that they want that with each other.  As usual Andy tries to brass balls it out, acting like it’s not a big deal. And Jake is concerned about how he can protect himself emotionally if he allows himself to kiss Andy.

Another fun aspect of this unusual order of sexual progression (for a romance novel) is this: Because they’d gotten off together, but not kissed, the act of kissing obtains a level of sensuality and importance that it wouldn’t normally have. Because it was forbidden fruit, it’s more tantalizing. It was fun—and challenging—to try to express that with words. Emotions and sensations are such vaporous things!

I hope you enjoy reading Five Dares including, as the boy says in Princess Bride, “the kissing part”.

Eli

About the Book

Andy Tyler has been the class daredevil since middle school. Over the years, he’s convinced his best friend, Jake Masterson, to perform some dangerous-looking stunts with him. But the dare they attempt on the night of their college graduation goes sideways. The firecrackers explode too soon and both of them end up with badly burned palms.

But hey, nothing gets the “terrible two-o” down for long, and they recuperate in style at Andy’s family cottage in Cape Cod. As the weeks go by, both Andy and Jake grow frustrated over the inability to use their hands for all sorts of daily activities—including getting off. So Andy begins a new series of dares that don’t just cross the friendship line, they obliterate it.

But what might be mere sexual relief to Andy is serious business to Jake, who only recently got over years of secret pining for his straight best friend. Inevitably, the burns heal, summer ends, and hearts are broken. To fix things, Andy will have to face the greatest dare of all.

[zilla_button url=”http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/five-dares” style=”blue” size=”large” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Available Now From Riptide Publishing [/zilla_button]

About the Author

Having been, at various times and under different names, a minister’s daughter, a computer programmer, a game designer, an author of paranormal thrillers, a fan-fiction writer, an organic farmer, and a profound sleeper, Eli Easton is happy these days writing love stories.

As an avid reader of such, she is tinkled pink when an author manages to combine literary merit, vast stores of humor, melting hotness, and eye-dabbing sweetness into one story. She promises to strive to achieve most of that most of the time. She currently lives on a farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, with her husband, three bulldogs, two cows, a cat, and a potbellied pig. She enjoys reading in all genres and, when she can be pried away from her iPad, hiking and biking.

Eli Easton has published 24 books in m/m romance since 2013. She won the Rainbow Award for Best Contemporary Romance in 2014 (The Mating of Michael) and in 2016 (A Second Harvest). Her Howl at the Moon series of humorous dog shifter romances have become fan favorites and placed in the Rainbow Awards and the Goodreads M/M Group Reader’s Choice awards. She is best known for romances with humor and a lot of heart.

Connect with Eli: Website || Facebook || Twitter: @EliEaston

The Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Five Dares, one lucky winner will receive a $20 Riptide gift card! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on October 7, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!